8Ball & MJG "Ten Toes Down" videoshoot

As you can see, this video is kinda lengthy. But I'm just showing love to Gabriel Hart and the fact that a somewhat mainstream rap group shot a video in Lenny's deserves mention.

Pics and Recap: Leaders of the Cool at Lenny's

Aight so...

This past Saturday I fell through Lenny's to check out Leaders of the New Cool...a traveling artist showcase that made its debut in Atlanta about a month or so ago. I missed the last one and wasn't really sure of what to expect since I heard as much good as I did bad about it. I've been to quite a few showcases and the usual complaint is that there are too many opening acts, sets go too long and the shows start too late. While LOTNC didn't crank up until around 11pm I can say that I enjoyed all of the music...

{warning you now, this is a long ass post}



The first cat to hit the stage was Big Chad Famous (who insisted that I take this pic in efforts to get him some sponsorship from PBR). Dude looked very relaxed on the stage...like, I just got out the bed relaxed. But dude's music was pretty jamming. He rapped, sang, etc. His mypace page says his music is "Alternative/Hip Hop/Indie" and yeah, that pretty much describes it. I was pleasantly surprised. This was the first time I actually heard of dude, but evidently he's a star around these parts. The song that stood out to me was "Alone In Space" which come to find out seems to be one of the main songs he's pushing.









Next up was the homie Stanza. I was glad to see he was on the bill, because it kinda seemed like ever since he went on Wild Out Wednesdays on 106 & Park he kinda fell back on performing around the city. But he did his thing as usual. He's pretty much known for his song "A.T.L." which is pretty much everybody's city anthem that the "masses" haven't caught on to yet. But me personally, my favorite part of the show is when he does "A Million Dollars" which is probably my favorite song by him.


Stanza-"A Million Dollars"






After him the homie Haziq fell throught right quick and did a couple songs from his "Business Is Good" album. Ya'll should give it a listen. I've known dude for a minute but ya'll may know him from his affilation to Tabi Bonney. But Haziq is truly on some real "get money" shit. But not the illegal way, all legit. My favorite song from him is "Hussla."




One artist in particular I wanted to check out was Ms. Brown. For whatever reasons I've never been able to make it to any of her performances or events. I did listen to her music a couple times and thought it was cool. But after seeing her perform and look like she meant what she was saying, I dug it more. Her's some video of her doing her song "No Strings Attatched":



You can peep her Under The Influence mixtape here.

{still going}



The show was also somewhat of a homecoming for the homie Spree Wilson as he was performing in Atlanta for the first time since he moved up to NYC a couple months ago. I told him that he done messed around and learned some new tricks since he left. He was playing guitar behind his head, on the ground...



standing on chairs and shit, hahah. But for real he did his thing and you can tell the change in environment has rejuvinated him. Here's some footage of him playing guitar and performing "Word."






The headliners for the show were Jeff B. and Mr. DJ better known as Mama's Mustache. I've been hep to their music for some months and this was my second time seeing them perform. Me personally, I think the shit is jamming. I dig how they are going from the ground up too. I mean, both of these dudes have been doing their thing for a minute and could easily shuffle into the music industry door from the top floor, but they're hitting all the spots where independent music flourishes first, so kudos to them.



Overall, the Leaders of the New Cool show was pretty good. Don't really have any complaints. I didn't realize how long I was in there until I left. Probably because I enjoyed all of the artists and they kept their sets short and to the point. The show was genuienly all about the music. But yeah, I took a gang of photos and would love for you to check them out and let me know what you think of them. Peace.

Exclusive (Kinda?): Bobby Creekwater Leaves Shady/Aftermath Records

A week or two ago the homie Tai Saint-Louis hit me and asked me if I wanted to holler at Bobby Creekwater. I figured, shit why not, I fugg with dude. Then she told me he wanted to tell the world that he was leaving Shady/Aftermath and that I'd be the first to have it. Cool stuff. So I stopped by his new studio downtown to get the skinny.

But like I said, this was a week or two ago, the day before he took the stage at Lenny's to headline the Leaders of the New Cool show. Since then, my life and time had been in a whirlwind and never got the time to sit and edit this video. But here it is, finally. If you've already heard the news, good for you. If you assumed that Bobby had already left anyway, hey, smart guy you are. But if you had no idea of what was going on, hope you enjoy this video.

Shouts out to Bobby, Sol Messiah and the whole team. I hear they are killing their show dates in Japan right now.

Mama's Mustache: The Album Before The Album

In case you haven't heard yet, Mr. DJ and Jeff B. (formerly of Co-Ed) have come together to form a new duo, Mama's Mustache. They've been hitting up select spots around the city here and there on the low...kinda on some calm before the storm type ish. But check out this pre-album they leaked out a couple days ago. I had the opportunity to hear the actual album album when I was in the studio with Pretty Ken and Jeff B. happened to come by one night. All I'll say is that it was 2am and it kept me wide awake. I mean, I don't get high, but it definitely had me feeling high. Its hard to put a label on what they're doing, but they like to call it "multi-purpose music" and that close enough for me. Anyways, this is the Album Before the Album. Check out and let me know what you think.

If you like to sample and taste here a couple Mama's Mustache tracks that have been floating around for a little bit.

Mama's Mustache-"Heavy Metal"


Mama's Mustache-"Job Hunting"

Also they, as well as Spree Wilson will be performing at the Leaders of the New Cool show at Lenny's on the 22nd.

LISTEN: Mama's Mustache-The Album Before the Album (via DatPiff)

Yelawolf's Gummo Stars at Lenny's Bar Photos and Re-Cap

"Fuck the money, we never got paid right...the money will come, but now we do it all for the stage lights..." -- Yelawolf, "Stage Lights"

Forgive me for taking so long to get around to posting about this. But the homie Yelawolf has been cranking up his own night at Lenny's Bar for the last three months. Its called Gummo Stars and it goes down every first Friday. If you've heard Yela's music you know what kind of vibe to expect. One minute you might be in there squaredancing to Johnny Cash...the next you're bouncing to Cool Breeze's "Cre-A-Tine."

I got a chance to fall through the most recent one he did and it was a pretty cool night...




Pill hit the stage and did a couple songs from his The Prescription: 4180 mixtape







Hollyweerd also hit the stage and I must say, their live show has gotten alot better from when they first started 2 years ago.




As usual Yela did his thing...he even had a beer chugging contest in the middle of the show.




I dunno man. I'm about ready for my dude to blow the fuck up man. For real. I don't know what the hold up is. As a fan and friend of dude, I just wanna see dude win already. Of course I know he don't give a damn about "blowing up" he just wants to give his fans dope music to jam too, which I can't be mad at.

Anyways, if you slept on his last project, Arena Rap, here are a couple more cuts from it that he performed at the show.


Yelawolf - "Candy and Dreams"


Yelawolf - "Back to Bama"

And here's some more photos from the night, let me know what you think:

R.I.P. Jax

Wow. Hip Hop literally died on stage last night at Lenny's. When I woke up this morning and saw the homie Nicole's (aka Severe) Gchat message saying "RIP JAX" I wanted to ask "who?" but didn't. You know, its kinda awkward asking people "yo, who died?" Then when I went over to Kaos' blog and saw the post he made on Jax I got reminded of exactly who it was and just thought oh damn...

Jax was one third of Atlanta's Binkis Recs (BINKIS: Before Ignorant Niggas Killed Intelligent Songs). For years Binkis was a stronghold in Atlanta's underground rap scene, even aiding in launching the career of DJ Drama pre-Gangsta Grillz. Really, more than just the "rap scene," Hip Hop period. If you were a lover of music, supporter of the culture and resident of Atlanta you'd surely seen these dudes perform and walked away remembering what you saw.

On a personal level, I can't say that I knew Jax, I only met him a couple times through the homie Craig who is in BINKIS as well. Can't say not one bad thing about dude, everytime I'd spoken with him was a pleasant experience. But that's neither here nor there, at the end of the day a dope MC, fiance and friend to many has passed.

He passed out on stage performing at Lenny's last night from a heart attack. According to Creative Loafing Jax suffered the heart attack while performing the title track from his 2007 solo album Sharper Images.

While its sad to hear, especially seeing as how he just purchased a home and was about to get married later this year, at least we can say the man died doing what he loved most...on stage at that. How many of us wish that we could die doing what we love?

RIP JAX

Live For The 5!!!

Friday night I hit up the latest edition of Fuggin Awesome, which is swiftly becoming one of the best outlets for Live and Independent Music in Atlanta. I've been to each and everyone of them since they started back in February and I haven't been let down yet.

Well, I take that back...I let myself down by BS'ing around after leaving Art, Beats & Lyrics last week and missing most of the show. I almost messed around and missed some of this one too because I forgot they moved the show from the usual location (Drunken Unicorn) to Lenny's Bar. It messed up though, because according to Firebrand the "friendly" folks at the Drunken Unicorn don't want anymore Hip Hop in their life.

The joint was cracking from the time I got out the car...I don't want to waste too much of your time running off at the mouth, so I'ma let the video I took speak on my behalf...

Dixie Mafia was on stage when I walked in



Gangsta Pill & Yelawolf & Scragg Lee performing "Ima Freek"



Joe Scudda of the Hall of Justice crew



Killer Mike Fliping Through Some of His Hits



The beautiful thing about that footage is that Mike is up there doing verses from "Kryptonite" showing that he still must have love for Big and them. Props to Dres for rocking along side him and letting him do his verse from "Body Rock."

Killer Mike, Gangsta Pill & Rochelle Fox performing "Eat Right" from I Pledge Allegiance To the Grind 2



My favorite part of the show (that I saw) was Divinity Roxx. She's a dope ass bass player who is an equally skilled MC. She also toured with Beyonce not to long ago. I always heard her name but never heard the music until a couple months ago. She tore down the stage then and did the same here.



The tail end of a jam session...



An associate of mines that I never saw at a Fuggin Awesome show asked me if "I fuck with these?" I told him hell yeah...this is one of the few outlets in the city where you'll hear the DJ spinning Goodie Mob, Raekwon, Shawty Lo and some shit you ain't never heard without missing a beat. Its also dope that it brings together a wealth of people from all walks of life and ethnicities together. Of course its not the first (Sloppy Seconds, Broke & Boujee, etc), but its still dope.